January l Fourth Week l Purple Jumble (Ode to Lilay)

Kung Hei Fat Choi! 🙂 First month down, eleven more to go! Last week, my co-PCC-JPIAn (Pasig Catholic College-Junior Philippine Institute of Accountants) Allysa (Pretty Lilay to her) helped promote my new blog. She told me she was inspired to continue her own passion – making accessories – because of my blog, so I promised her I would dedicate this week’s refashion to her.

First, to those of you with a really, really bad internet connection, I’m feeling you. That is why starting this week, I will make it a point to limit my how-to pics to 10 per transformation. See this week’s *groan*-great! pic:

*groan* to great! (with niece)

For some weeks now, my niece Momoy always asks when will I create something for her. So for this week, from two “ukay-ukay” finds (at 50PHP each), I have created three new item of clothings plus two accessories! What a deal, right? My objective is to infuse a little bit of the two in each new article. I made a top, a vest, and a coin purse for me, while Aia (Momoy) gets a skirt and a body bag.

Let’s start with the top:

great fabric / attaching lace / back detail

I really love the splatter/flower combination on the fabric. Good thing also that its dominant color is purple, same as that of the jean dress. I just cut it as a strapped top, took in the sides, sewn some left-over lace to add length, and created this back detail from strips of jean cloth, the design of which I copied from the footwear of someone I rode a jeepney with. Quick and easy!

Now for Aia’s skirt and my vest:

Momoy's skirt + Vest

For Momoy’s skirt, I used the splatter/flower fabric as a waistband since it is stretchable. I cut three 4-inch panels with her waist length (give allowance for pleating) and layered them to create a layered puff skirt. And then for the vest, I just removed the neckline (which is about 3 inches, ugh!) and the piece of fabric at the front which looked like a flap and I couldn’t, for the life of me, think of its use. I then cut some strips from the other ukay piece and sewn them on the neckline.

Goofing by the sewing machine 🙂

Accessories Time!

how-to pics for coin purse

I have been using for a month now a Mercury Drug coin purse I found at home, and I decided it would be a great time for it to retire. 🙂 I sewn strips of the fabric with their raw edges and just created a criss-cross pattern. Because of time-constraint (I still have audit testing to document), I just used velcro instead of putting a zipper. Then I attached a flower inspired by Lilay’s headbands:

Lilay's headbands (click to see her creations)

Not as good as hers, but it will do the trick. 🙂

As for Momoy’s body bag:

bag sewing / attaching button / "roping"

This is extra special for me as I used here a roping technique taught by my grandfather (who is now in his 90s) when I was still a kid. To do this, you just have to sort of push two strips of fabric (or plastic, or anything you will be roping) to slowly twist them, making sure they don’t touch each other. Then with the other hand assisting, carefully follow the direction of the twist, combining them in the process. Quite simple, and it’s more time-saving than braiding. I used the rope as the strap of the bag, and took one of the buttons to create a ribbon at the front. Momoy simply loved it!

I currently am on an out-of-town audit engagement, but hoping to be back before Saturday in time for my next refashion. Until next week!